This morning I drove to Catonsville, a suburb of Baltimore, where I was hoping to find a mid-century credenza for my living room.
When I pulled into the parking lot, Kel was waiting for me, eating a gigantic muffin. The first thing he said to me was "Good morning!" and after that "See across the street here? That's the bakery that delivers fresh bread to most of the restaurants in Baltimore. And if you go further down the street, you probably passed it, there's a butcher that provides meat to a lot of restaurants too! Did you know that? Have you been to this part of town before?" He was very excited.
"I've never been to this part of Maryland before."
Kel's wife has been scouring the area for mid-century pieces for about ten years, mostly dressers and credenzas, but also other furniture and decorative items. They've noticed that lately stuff tends to get marked up to ridiculous prices (which is why it's taken me this long to find anything), so they have a store for "regular people". It turns out that "regular people" is also set decorators for Mad Men and House of Cards, as in they've sold pieces for use on those shows. Interesting, no?
Anyway, I fell in love with the piece I spotted on Craigslist and I brought it home and immediately took it apart! Mwa ha ha! You will see why as you scroll down the photos.
I forgot to take a "before" picture, so you'll have to rely on the pic from the Craigslist ad:
First, I pulled out all the nails that held the backpiece in place.
It took a while to figure out how to take the drawer off. It turned out to be a matter of pulling really really hard. Once it was out, I removed the slide bar, exposing the drawer-divider/dust protector.
Next, using my brand new jigsaw(!) I cut a support piece to lay on top of the frame.
Then, I re-nailed the backpiece on and drilled a big-ole-hole with my new spade bit.
The kitties came down to investigate what all the loud noise was about.
There you have it! A new/old media center!
The new wood piece is ready for stain but that is a project for another day.
As you can see, the cabinet doors need a little adjusting but that won't be hard.
Hans wanted to move the couch over to accommodate Bunsen by the window.
I recently re-hung the art behind the sofa so that it was perfectly centered, so in order to save myself and the walls more trouble I filled the rest of the blank wall space with previously-framed items.
This means that the opposite wall is a little bare now but like Hans said we have plenty of other things we can frame!
Also, this week I bought a bird feeder and the neighborhood birds have gone so bananas over it they spilled half the seeds all over my balcony (and the downstairs one too...). Therefore, I have constructed an odd sort of setup where the bird feeder is sitting on top of one of those winter boot mats they sell at hardware stores (Hans' awesome idea). The cats can't get enough of their new "entertainment"!
Here, the house finches are looking down at their handiwork
Now the little birdies have to clean up their mess if they want to eat!